Trump celebrates collapse of The Weekly Standard as the conservative magazine's reporters lose jobs over holiday season

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3 months ago
Business Insider

President Donald Trump on Saturday morning took to Twitter to celebrate the collapse of The Weekly Standard.

Trump tweeted, "The pathetic and dishonest Weekly Standard, run by failed prognosticator Bill Kristol (who, like many others, never had a clue), is flat broke and out of business. Too bad. May it rest in peace!"

Clarity Media Group, which owned The Weekly Standard, on Friday morning announced the conservative magazine would be closing its doors after 23 years.

Trump's Saturday morning attack on The Weekly Standard was par for the course in terms of his consistent anti-media rhetoric.

President Donald Trump on Saturday morning took to Twitter to celebrate the collapse of The Weekly Standard, one of the last prominent conservative outlets critical of his politics and rhetoric.

Less than a day after employees of The Weekly Standard lost their jobs in the midst of the holiday season, Trump tweeted, "The pathetic and dishonest Weekly Standard, run by failed prognosticator Bill Kristol (who, like many others, never had a clue), is flat broke and out of business. Too bad. May it rest in peace!"

Kristol replied to Trump's tweet, telling the president to "@ me next time."

Clarity Media Group, which owned The Weekly Standard, on Friday morning announced the conservative magazine would be closing its doors after 23 years.

"For more than twenty years The Weekly Standard has provided a valued and important perspective on political, literary and cultural issues of the day," chief executive and chairman of Clarity Media Group Ryan McKibben said in a press release. "The magazine has been home to some of the industry's most dedicated and talented staff and I thank them for their hard work and contributions, not just to the publication, but the field of journalism."

Employees were told they would be paid through the end of the year and receive severance dictated by factors such as seniority, CNN reported. They were also told to clear out their desks by the end of the day.

Trump's Saturday morning attack on The Weekly Standard was par for the course in terms of his consistent anti-media rhetoric. He routinely lambastes virtually any noteworthy outlet that criticizes him, often referring to such coverage as "Fake News." The president has also characterized a number of major outlets as the "enemy of the people."

The president's decision to single out Kristol in his Saturday tweet was also part of a broader trend. He's gone after Kristol on a number of occasions via Twitter in the past, dating all the way back to the early days of the 2016 campaign season.

In July 2015, for example, Trump tweeted, "Bill, your small and slightly failing magazine will be a giant success when you finally back Trump. Country will soar!"

The Weekly Standard was one of a few explicitly conservative media sources that routinely criticized Trump.